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Injection-site supporters cheer as appeal case fails

VANCOUVER–Canada's attorney general and minister of health have lost their appeal of a court ruling on Vancouver's controversial supervised injection site, raising proponents' hopes that similar facilities will now open in other cities.

The B.C. Appeal Court decision Friday upheld a lower court ruling that provinces, not the federal government, have jurisdiction for health care, and therefore services such as the injection site.

Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV-AIDS, said the decision sends a clear message that Prime Minister Stephen Harper should abandon "his draconian, ideologically motivated public health policy-making" and embrace evidence-based research to continue operating the clinic, called Insite. More >>